Subway Domer Ballot – Week 12
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
 1 |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
2 |
| 3 | Georgia Bulldogs |
3 |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks |
 -3 |
| 5 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | — |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal |
6 |
| 7 | Texas A&M Aggies |
3 |
| 8 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
-5 |
| 9 | Florida St. Seminoles |
-2 |
| 10 | Clemson Tigers |
-2 |
| 11 | LSU Tigers | — |
| 12 | Florida Gators |
-3 |
| 13 | Oklahoma Sooners | — |
| 14 | UCLA Bruins |
1 |
| 15 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-1 |
| 16 | Texas Longhorns | — |
| 17 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
2 |
| 18 | Oregon St. Beavers |
6 |
| 19 | Louisville Cardinals |
-1 |
| 20 | Michigan Wolverines |
3 |
| 21 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | — |
| 22 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | — |
| 23 | Boise St. Broncos | — |
| 24 | Kent St. Golden Flashes | — |
| 25 | Northern Illinois Huskies | — |
| Dropouts: USC Trojans, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Wisconsin Badgers | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
When SubwayDomer asked me to do this gig and gave me the SB Nation poll keys, I did have an unusual impulse, a premonition if you will. Staring at the blank first ballot, I had the completely irrational urge to vote Notre Dame number 1. I thought they were better than 24 or unranked or wherever the pre-season consensus had them at the time. But I clearly thought, "That would be ridiculous" and I didn't want to bring down needless hate on the blog. Then I thought hard about putting them at about ten, because I thought they really probably were a top ten team, but I didn't do that either. I ended up putting them at 20. I truly thought they were better than that, but I didn't want to "jinx" anything. I didn't want to look like a "homer." And I told myself, 20 was higher than almost all bloggers and official polls and certainly not unreasonable. What a joke. By week three I had them at #11 and by week 6 I had the Irish at #4. Each of these times I was ahead of the other pollsters, but looking back I sure wish I had more faith in this team. I should have said "Fuck it. Let's win the SB Nation Coulter/Kos Bias award every week!" At the very least it would have driven clicks, right?
But now, there is no more doubting this squad, even for a beleagured fanbase conditioned to wait for the other shoe to drop. They have faced down every challenge and deserve the number 1 ranking they have earned. The rest of the ballot saw a lot of movement as well based on an epically crazy Saturday, but all I really care about at this moment is defending that #1 ranking. Go Irish! Beat Trojans!
